WARSAW (Reuters) - Archaeologists have discovered the wreck of a U.S.-made bomber flown by the Soviet Red Army in World War Two, along with the remains of four crewmen killed when it crashed in southern Poland, private broadcaster TVN reported.
Only one man survived when the B-25 Mitchell was shot down by the German air force on Jan. 19, 1945 - a 23-year-old commander who parachuted out and was taken into German captivity.
Marta Wrobel in the town of Bierun during the war and told TVN that the blast from the crash had been powerful enough to blow out windows and doors.
The discovery of the wreckage comes as world leaders and some of the dwindling number of Holocaust survivors are set to gather at the site of the Nazi German death camp at Auschwitz on Monday to commemorate the 75th anniversary of its liberation.
The site of the crash is close to Auschwitz.
The remains of the four Soviet crewmen who perished in the crash will be laid to rest at a nearby Red Army cemetery.
"The skeletons we've excavated so far are complete. Almost all of them are dressed, we found with them parts of the Soviet or American uniforms commonly used on Mitchell aircraft," said archaeologist Sebastian Witkowski.
The Soviet Union received hundreds of B-25 bombers under the Lend-Lease program une which the United States provided war supplies to its allies during the war.